My NTC Schedule in New Orleans Next Week and My Giant Insect Goal

I am one week before the NTC, Day of Service, and Penguin Day and it's pretty crazy to say the least. I wanted to get my schedule in one easy to reference place (for myself) and think about how to incorporate some new panel moderation/panel techniques into my practice.

One of the reflections to come out of this week SXSW Conference was for moderators of panels to use Twitter (or back channel tool) to poll the audience upfront and monitor it real time. Nancy White made a great observation in the comments, "The new tools give us new ways to transmit the cues and sense where
others are, even if we do not coordinate our actions. It’s like a new
set of antennae." So, if you're moderating a panel, think of yourself as a giant insect!

In some email back and forth with Nancy, she brought up the issue of agreements and expectations from the audience, moderator, and the panelists - that includes listening and sending signals. How do we negotiate what we have the capacity to do? I know for myself, it will be a challenge to add this new level of multi-tasking (watching a twitter stream in real time) while in the room - in addition reading the body language, traffic coping the conversation, listening to the panelists, keeping an eye on the watch, etc.

So where is the line and how do we declare what it is for each of us and negotiate (if and when) it means something to us as a group? What are the expectations or acceptable behavior for sending signals from the audience? When you are moderating a face-to-face discussion, part of the job is to keep in on track - on topic and on time - while allowing for interesting conversation to flow. However, this means reining in off topic directions or disruptive group behavior. Adding Twitter as a listening tool will really demand a new level of moderation skills.

I'm going to challenge myself to do this in a couple of sessions where we might have a lot of Twitter users and going to make some quick notes on practice.

Tuesday, March 18
Night Before Day of Service Dinner
Cheryl Hanback and I Co-Leaders
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Breakfast at 8:00 am at the hotelWireless Network Installation team at Community Center of St. Bernard leaves 8:45Strategy consults at hotel - 9-11Wireless Network Installation team returns to hotel - noonTraining Team for Center of St. Bernard leaves hotel 12:30Training Team works on site from 12-2Jay Dedman Video Blogging Workshop -2-5

Thursday, March 2010:30-NoonSo you want to be a consultant?-Use Twitter in beginning as part of poll of audience questions-Use Twitter during small groups to cross pollinate-Use Twitter at the full group report out